The first two ESA Galileo navigation satellites in space can now transmit dummy signals in a modulation scheme designed to allow full interoperability with the US GPS once operational services start.

This is the European version of the Multiplexed Binary Offset Code signal standard which is the agreed upon standard with the United States for the interoperability of Galileo and GPS.

“This is an advanced modulation technique that offers robust protection against signal interference and the misleading signal reflections known as ‘multipath’,” said Marco Falcone, Head of Galileo System Services.

WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud announced that metadata from the World Meteorological Organization Information System (WIS) will be made available through the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) from 13 July onwards. This means that any data registered in the WIS will be automatically registered and thus accessible in GEOSS. This action responds to the commitment made by the World Meteorological Congress in 2007 “that the WIS, as a system with essential data exchange and data management services, would have to play a core role in the GEOSS as an essential WMO contribution with respect to weather, water and climate data and products.”

This new functionality complements the existing WIS capability for discovering GEOSS data and products via WIS. This capability is available at WMO’s Global Information and System Centres (GISCs – see www.wmo.int/giscs).

-World Meteorological Organization

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Today, GeoIQ announced that they have joined Esri. It is not clear whether this is an acquisition or a merger, or what the nature of this arrangement is, other than the press release says Esri approached GeoIQ about joining their team and “merging technologies.” GeoIQ is a company dedicated to providing “GIS for everyone,” a popular position today, but the company’s goal is to create new mapping interfaces and change the geospatial market by doing so. The relationship with Esri enables GeoIQ to work within the ArcGIS platform and to reach their millions of users.

GeoIQ will be a presence in Esri’s efforts to create the next generation of GeoWeb technologies. Part of that effort will include a new research and development center in the Washington DC area. GeoIQ’s task at the development will focus on engineering core technologies for Esri, clearly utilizing GeoIQ’s experience working with open data and technology communities and real time and large data analytics. An ongoing project is “Twitch” which handles dynamic aggregation and visualitons of millions of points from social media streams with in-browser HTML5 support.

Apple has been praised for its innovation in the mobile space. Criticism of the company has centered around their fixation on absolute control. Their spat with Adobe in 2011 over the Flash Player plugin, effectively forced Adobe to change direction away from Flash and Flex. This was an early sign that Apple would not be playing nice. Legal pressure forced them to allow cross platform apps, like those generated in Mobile Flex, to be made available in their Apple store. But it was not a decision made to placate Adobe. Now we see attacks on rival hardware companies, like the recent Samsung lawsuit:

Mobile Platform Specific Apps

Other interesting developments include; the dropping of Google Maps in favour of Apple Maps, and the suggestion that their Maps app for iOS will include Yelp check-in feature that ties in with review site Yelp, further integrating social networking and location-based services into iOS 6.